Teen lightning survivor describes surreal jolt

July 19, 2013|By Linda Trischitta and Erika Pesantes, Sun Sentinel

COOPER CITY — Stefan Marton saw flashes of blue and white and thought he was dreaming when he fell backward two stories from a regal ficus tree that was struck by lightning. The booming jolt briefly left his tree-climbing buddy clinging to a branch during a light drizzle.

"I actually feel really happy to be alive," Stefan, 15, of Cooper City, said Friday, "because I didn't think I was coming back from that."

The teenagers are not believed to have been struck directly Thursday by the potentially fatal current that can stop a heart and cause debilitating injuries that sometimes last a lifetime.

The force of the blast dislodged both boys from their perches, Jachles said.

Stefan was at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood on Friday, recovering from three spinal fractures and a gash in the back of his head that needed seven staples.

Florida leads the nation in lightning deaths, the National Weather Service says, and this year's fatalities include a woman who was walking the beach in Belleair, near Clearwater, a man who was descending scaffolding in Naples and a Lake Okeechobee fisherman.

"When thunder roars, go indoors" is the weather service's slogan.

Unfortunately for victims — who are, according to one government expert, most frequently anglers, campers, boaters, beachgoers, outdoor athletes, golfers, ranchers/farmers and home gardeners — time often runs out before they can reach safe shelter.

"Whenever you hear thunder, don't try to calculate how far it is," said the National Weather Service's warning coordination meteorologist, Robert Molleda. "Thunder is your cue to get indoors. Delay your golf game, or get out of the pool. The storm that produced the thunder is close enough to send a lightning strike."

Lightning doesn't only travel straight down to earth from the sky, Molleda said.

"Lightning has been observed extending horizontally 10 miles or more from a thunderstorm cloud," Molleda said.

During South Florida's rainy season, thunder can be a near daily occurrence in the region. And those powerful booms mean lightning is close enough to strike, the weather service said.

Stefan said he and his 16-year-old friend, also from Cooper City and whose mother declined reporters' requests to interview her son, expected the light rain to stop.

They were sitting on tree limbs about 20 to 25 feet off the ground at Chase Park, on Southwest 49th Street south of Griffin Road, when the bolt struck.

"One second we're [in the tree] talking about bikes, the next second I just hear a big boom," Stefan said. "I saw myself falling backward and, I guess, after I hit the floor, I lost consciousness for about 10 seconds."

His friend fell onto another tree branch but was not hurt, and climbed down to call 911 and help his friend.

Stefan's ears were ringing, his body tingled all over and his head throbbed, he said.

"I thought it was all a dream," Stefan said. "I woke up in the ambulance and knew it was real."

From 2006 through 2012, there were 238 people fatally struck by lightning in the U.S. and men comprised 82 percent of those deaths, according to a report on the weather service's website.

In Florida, there were 51 reported deaths and 365 injuries from 1996 through April 2013, Molleda said.

There is a 1 in 775,000 chance of being struck by lightning, based on estimated deaths and injuries — estimated because not all incidents are reported, the weather service says.

Of people struck by lightning, 10 percent die and the 90 percent who survive may have some form of disability, according to the weather service's website.

"Lightning is a huge amount of electricity," Molleda said.

The weather service says "a typical lightning flash is about 300 million volts," compared with 120 volts for electric current in a home.

"Many who are struck by lightning that aren't killed suffer severe health effects for a lifetime," Molleda said. "If the lightning hits your body directly, you're probably not going to have a chance of surviving."

Survival could also depend on the victim's age and health, medical response time and other variables, he said.

"I won't parade around in lightning and rain like I used to," said Guerrero, who was 17 and walking home during a drizzle after fishing in his community's lake when it is believed a bolt struck an irrigation pump system and traveled to his rod and hands.

Guerrero's fishing pole disintegrated, his nose broke when he fell to the ground and he endured heart arrhythmia, second-degree burns and other injuries that caused the high school baseball pitcher to rely on a wheelchair when he began his senior year. "Now I have a little more respect for the lightning."